1969 Barracuda Fastback
Headlight "upgrade":
I actually wanted to convert my headlights to European standards, but it appears that an H4 conversion is not street legal in the US. Vice versa, US-style sealed beam headlights are not street legal in some countries in Europe, at least not in Austria.
If someone has other legal information about H4 headlamps in the US, please chime in and correct me.
So, I just replaced the old sealed beam headlights and did the "Daniel Stern - upgraded headlight circuit". Mr. Stern provides quite useful information on his webpage Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply - thank you very much for sharing.
Buying a quality relay installation kit from "DanielSternLightning" would have saved me a lot of time and is not really more expensive than buying all the parts by yourself - I ordered some wrong parts, than forgot something, and had to shop again. Anyways, besides the headlight harness, I wanted to replace several terminals and wires on the car, so I did it by myself. I got most parts from CE Auto Electric Supply – Automotive Electrical Solutions - fast shipping, very honest, and friendly staff - perfect.
My requirements were to drill no additional holes, keep the engine bay clean, and have easy excess to the relays and fuses. The option to mount them hidden under the battery tray was tempting but does not really allow easy access. There were already two holes close to the alternator, so I decided to use those two to mount the 15A fuses. The mounting bolts for the original headlight ground wires, were my choice for the two "waterproof" relays.
It would have been slightly easier two use relays with two 87 terminals, but the relays I used worked well too. Since the "upgrade" I drove around 70 miles (highway and country) during night hours. The difference is distinctive, way brighter lights, and hopefully safer than the original harness.
Cheers,
Wolfgang
Headlight "upgrade":
I actually wanted to convert my headlights to European standards, but it appears that an H4 conversion is not street legal in the US. Vice versa, US-style sealed beam headlights are not street legal in some countries in Europe, at least not in Austria.
If someone has other legal information about H4 headlamps in the US, please chime in and correct me.
So, I just replaced the old sealed beam headlights and did the "Daniel Stern - upgraded headlight circuit". Mr. Stern provides quite useful information on his webpage Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply - thank you very much for sharing.
Buying a quality relay installation kit from "DanielSternLightning" would have saved me a lot of time and is not really more expensive than buying all the parts by yourself - I ordered some wrong parts, than forgot something, and had to shop again. Anyways, besides the headlight harness, I wanted to replace several terminals and wires on the car, so I did it by myself. I got most parts from CE Auto Electric Supply – Automotive Electrical Solutions - fast shipping, very honest, and friendly staff - perfect.
My requirements were to drill no additional holes, keep the engine bay clean, and have easy excess to the relays and fuses. The option to mount them hidden under the battery tray was tempting but does not really allow easy access. There were already two holes close to the alternator, so I decided to use those two to mount the 15A fuses. The mounting bolts for the original headlight ground wires, were my choice for the two "waterproof" relays.
It would have been slightly easier two use relays with two 87 terminals, but the relays I used worked well too. Since the "upgrade" I drove around 70 miles (highway and country) during night hours. The difference is distinctive, way brighter lights, and hopefully safer than the original harness.
Cheers,
Wolfgang
